


the natural calamities

by sunday_star



Category: Wolverine (Movies)
Genre: Free Verse, Gen, Harm to Children, Mutant Powers, Poetry, Tests, x-23 - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-13
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-02-07 22:08:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12850515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunday_star/pseuds/sunday_star
Summary: "She knows her name is Laura.Gabriela makes a point of using itWhenever they talk.Laura.Laura.She knows her name.She knows it's not X-23.That is not a name. That’s just-A designation.-A code word.An experiment."





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The structure of for this was pretty much based on the book audacity, by melaine crowder. Thought of this while comeing home from thanks giving, desided to give it a shot.  
> Tell me if ya'll liked it and maybe I can do s'more;)  
> -Sunday

**sleepless**  
The sore skin on her back  
Presses uncomfortably into canvas of her cot. 

Laura doesn't sleep. 

Stretched out,  
Like leathery skin over bone  
She stares at the ceiling.  
It's painted white  
like everything else in her world  
But she thinks that this is okay.  
Sometimes Laura can find patterns  
In the sharp lines of the cracks.  
She likes to draw little pictures  
In her head  
So no one can take them away from her. 

It helps.  
On nights like this.  
When the pain  
Wracks  
through her body  
Making even something so simple  
Like breathing  
Or sleeping  
Slip through her fingers  
Like the way blood flows  
From an open wound. 

Laura knows a lot about wounds. 

Her internal clock tells her that it is almost time  
For the guards to come wake her  
So she can begin the days training.  
She wishes that for once  
No shadow would darken  
The little window on her door,  
That she would be left alone.  
That for once  
She wouldn't have to live in pain. 

They come anyway.  
The door opens with a soft click of the lock.  
She rises without word. 

 

**laura**  
She knows her name is Laura.  
Gabriela makes a point of using it  
Whenever they talk.  
Laura.  
_Laura._  
She knows her name.  
She knows it's not X-23.  
That is not a name. That’s just  
-A designation.  
-A code word.  
An experiment. 

The lab coat looks at her expectantly.  
There is a thick layer of bullet proof glass  
Between his eyes and her own.  
But she hopes  
He feels her glare. 

"X-23,"  
He tells her again  
As if she couldn't understand him  
The first time he opened his stupid face.  
"Show me move 27."  
She holds his gaze  
Before turning back to the practice dummy.  
She's tired  
And in pain.  
She just wants this to be over. 

Her bone claws  
Tears through her skin  
With practiced strife. 

The dummy never stood a chance. 

 

 

 

 **red**  
She thinks  
maybe  
The sleepless nights  
are affecting her. 

Laura is fast.  
Faster than any of the others.  
But lately  
She feels as if her body  
Weighs more than she can hold. 

The knife gets her in the side. 

Laura shoves down a sob  
Because a lab coat  
Observes her over a clip board  
Judging her  
With cold eyes.  
Crying only makes it worse. 

The lab coat flicks off the robot Laura had been sparring with  
before turing to the others.  
They express their disappointment  
Through a series of observations. 

Laura struggles to her feet.  
The lab coats were about to order her to try it again  
And again  
Until no flaws can be found  
When one points out  
It is almost time for lunch. 

They dismiss her  
And no one mentions the growing patch of warm blood  
That is staining her crisp white shirt  
An ugly red. 

 

 

**rictor**  
At lunch the others leave her be.  
They know the lab coats  
Have been working her extra hard.  
Desperate to mold her  
Into the perfect weapon. 

The others get to stay in their rooms longer  
Have less training to do  
More freedoms.  
She should be jealous of them.  
Yet all she can bring herself to feel is relief  
That none of her friends have to go through what she does.  
She's not sure they could make it. 

When the oldest of them  
Rictor  
Sees her wound  
His face gets dark.  
For a moment  
Laura thinks he will go into one of his rants  
-"They're killing you, Laura!"-  
He'd yelled once  
After she had passed out in the common room.  
That had been weeks ago. 

Instead he just sits next to her silently  
And places an arm around her shoulder.  
She finds  
That's just what she needed.  
She rests her head on his shoulder. 

 

 

**don’t fall**  
Laura is expected to walk back to the training room on her own. 

The guards follow behind her  
Though she doubts they will help her up  
If she falls.  
Her legs are too heavy  
And her side burns  
But she is expected to keep going.  
Even if she feels like falling down  
And never getting up again. 

 

She keeps her face stony and impassive  
She knows they will like this  
Because it is the exact same thing Gabriella hates. 

-"No me dejes"-  
Gabriella will tell her  
Whenever she thinks Laura is pulling away  
Behind hard features  
And cold gazes. 

Everything Gabriella hates the lab coates love  
Like screaming  
And growling. 

Laura thinks  
This tells a lot about how they view her.  
A weapon  
Or a child.  
A child-weapon. 

 

**rage**  
Her bone claws are useless  
Against the sparring bots.  
They pull uncomfortably  
Whenever she tries to scratch away  
At their metal armor. 

It’s hard not to lose herself  
In the fighting,  
To think rather than do  
To feel rather than act.

It’s in her nature  
She knows  
But she can’t stop it.

The anger,  
The pure rage  
That pulls at her skin  
Dragging a howl out of her mouth-

 

The teaser hits her  
Mid-leap.

The shock  
Slams through her body,  
And she falls,  
Momentum  
Rolling her forward.

The silhouettes of the bots  
Lomb over her,  
But no matter how much she tries,  
She can’t push herself up  
Or move at all.

 

Her body twitches weakly on the ground  
The shock keeping her down.

They’re advancing,  
And its all too much  
The fear,  
The pain,  
Infect her, paralyzing  
Like a poison. 

Then there’s something else  
Deep in her gut.  
Something animalistic,  
Something feral.  
It coils, ready to strike. 

This feeling is not unfamiliar to her,  
-The rage-  
But she’s never felt it like this.  
It feels wrong inside of her,  
But sits so comfortably.

She’s cornered,  
Trapped,  
Like an animal.

The rage  
Unfurl from her stomach  
Seeping into her limbs  
Sharpening her vision.

The last thing she remembers is  
Leaping at the human like forms  
Intent to main  
To kill  
Before she blacks out  
And the rage takes over.

 

**procedure**  
“Healing factor .… activated  
Prepare …. procedure”

She’s floating.  
Or… falling  
Very slowly.

She can feel the ground somewhere below,  
Knows when she reaches it  
There will be a lot of pain  
But  
For now  
She just enjoys the freedom…

 

**metal**  
…When she wakes up  
Laura knows something is wrong. 

Her body feels weird  
Heavy,  
Like she’s caring an extra weight.

She’s in the room.  
The cracked ceiling winks down at her  
Like it knows all.  
The gown is a stark white  
Not a hint of red.

She palms her side where she got cut  
But there is nothing there  
No signs she was ever hurt.

Sitting, she inspects her skin  
Knowing their should be bruises,  
Cuts,  
And old scares.  
But there’s nothing  
No signs of anything.

She runs her fingers over her knuckles  
-Which always have some sort of scaring  
Her claws constantly tearing at the skin-  
And feels only smooth skin.

Making a fist she extends her claws.

They come out smoother than ever before,  
The tips poke out with little effort.

She catches her face  
Reflected in the metal.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "It’s just her and Gabriella now.
> 
> They get little motel rooms,  
> with little bathrooms and little TVs  
> (Laura has decided that she likes television.  
> Sometimes,  
> When she has time,  
> She will go through all the channels  
> Just to see the different people.)"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad this is finally out there! This chapter has been sitting in a word doc half finished forever.  
> Thank you to every who left kudos and commented, they all mean a lot to me!
> 
> Warning: Some self-harm in the beginning 
> 
> I hope everyone enjoys, thanks for reading!  
> -Sunday

**different**  
The next few weeks pass.

In such a short time  
Her world has changed  
So much.

The world is alight  
With her new senses.  
She can tell more differences  
Between a person’s sent  
Then their face.

She drags the claws  
Over her skin of her arm,  
Drawing thin red lines.  
Warm blood  
Seeps back into the wound  
With little effort.

It’s mesmerizing.  
The sting of her claw,  
The ease of the skin  
Sewing itself back together again.

Laura’s so lost  
She almost misses  
The door opening  
And Gabriella is there

Phone in hand,  
Pink case shaking slightly.  
She’s at her side  
Saying her name.

 

 

 **no place for a child**  
Laura overhears  
Gabriella talking  
With one of the other nurses.

They murmur in sharp,  
Soft whispers,  
In the room adjacent from the one she occupies.  
But  
She can still hear them  
As clearly  
As if they were standing right next to her.

“No place for a child,”  
She hears. And,  
They are moving away  
Down the hall.

Laura turns her attention  
Back to the table.  
Another test,  
This one for her mind.

She sighs to the empty room,  
They no longer feel the need  
To have a lab coat in the room with her.  
She’s fine with that.

 

 

 **Escape**  
The day they leave the hospital  
For good  
Laura fights off the guards,  
While the others get away.

Rictor collapsed the hallway behind her  
In a assault of seismic energy  
His face is the last she sees  
Before the ruble blocks her view.

And Laura thinks,  
She’ll never see them again.

And that’s okay,  
She thinks.

Because she’s not sure she belongs  
Anywhere  
But the little white cell.

The guards fall fast.  
Dead, before they reach the ground.  
Soon they learn  
That they have no chance of beating her.

She’s faster than their bullets,  
Stronger, than their armor.  
But there’s nothing she can do  
If the shielded door remains  
Shut.

They’ll find some way to subdue her,  
She’s sure.  
Take her back to lab again,  
Cut her open again,  
Until they have no use for her.

Laura advances  
On the cowering men,  
With their empty guns,  
And shivering legs.  
There just as  
Trapped  
As she is.

But then,  
The door is open,  
And Gabriella is there. Yelling,  
“Ven aquí, Laura!”  
And she’s moving,  
Back the way she came.  
And she’s ready  
For a fight, but  
None comes.  
“Rápidamente, Laura!”

Gabriella has a hold of her hand,  
And Laura thinks that that’s dumb, because  
How can she defend them  
When Gabriella is holding her hand?

But Laura lets her drag her through the halls  
As if she didn’t know her own way.

 

 

 **outside**  
Laura has been outside before.

They thought it necessary for her to learn  
How to track,  
How to hunt,  
How to kill, like an animal.

But,  
She’s never really known what it is like  
Outside the hospital.

It’s just her and Gabriella now.

They get little motel rooms,  
with little bathrooms and little TVs  
(Laura has decided that she likes television.  
Sometimes,  
When she has time,  
She will go through all the channels  
Just to see the different people.)

And at night  
They share a bed  
(It’s too expensive to buy  
Two beds, though, she’s not quite sure on the  
whole  
money thing yet.)  
Gabriella sleeps,  
And Laura listens.

She knows they’ll come for her  
(And she knows Gabriella knows too.  
She spends half of the time,  
Looking over her shoulder.)  
So she waits, the sound of Gabriella’s  
Soft  
Breath, keeping her lucid. 

One night, Gabriella’s breath quickens  
In her sleep.  
She sounds like she’s in pain  
And, Laura doesn’t know what to do  
So, she reaches over and shakes her shoulder.

Gabriella startles  
Eyes wide, and  
When she sees Laura  
They start to tear up.

“Oh, Laura,”  
She says, holding out her arms for an embrace.  
Laura curls against her,  
Gripping her shirt.

The room is filled  
With the whispered apologies  
Of a scared woman.

She doesn’t say anything, but  
Laura knows Gabriella has nothing to be sorry for.

She isn’t the monster.

 

 

 **in plain sight**  
They hide.  
And run.  
And hide.

Laura wants to know when they will meet the others.

Gabriella says they have someone to find first.

Someone  
Like her;  
Someone  
Different.

Someone strong and brave  
Who can protect her and the others. 

She shows Laura stories  
-With colorful pictures  
And equally colorful people-  
Of the good and bad  
And the right and wrong.

Laura tucks the pages away  
In her bag,  
Pulls it close to her chest;  
She falls asleep to the dreams a child’s story.

 

 

 

 **the driver**  
She wakes to the sight of an old broken man.

 

Gabriella finds her hero.  
He’s drunk and old  
And every bit not the brave  
Man in the colorful suit from the stories.

The rain is heavy on the car.

Laura sinks down in the backseat.

Gabriella went to talk to him,  
The diver,  
But he won’t listen.  
He’s walking away.

She wants to disappear into the seat.

Gabriella storms back into the car,  
Muttering obscenities.  
The old car starts  
With a pop and a bang  
And they’re driving away.

She catches the driver’s eyes  
-The retreating glass of the back window  
Putting distance between them-  
And she’s surprised  
To see herself within them.

Not in features  
But in the way his eyes hold  
His quilt  
And pain.

Then it is gone,  
With the silhouette in the rain.


End file.
